Violin Girl
by DiamondPheonix12
Summary: Annabeth Chase is a smart, quiet girl who has a special talent. Percy Jackson is a oblivious, popular swimmer. Their names were never in the same sentence, so how did they suddenly become so close? And why did Annabeth suddenly disappear? *R&R*
1. Prologue

Curly blond hair flew around a girl's face as she danced to the sound of her music. A elegant brown violin rested on her shoulder, a haunting song drawn from it. Her feet moved in their own special dance as she played in the isolated forest.

Annabeth's gray eyes, always cold and calculating, softened with joy. The music,_ her_ music, was the best thing she had in her life. Annabeth ended the song and looked at the sky. It was time for her to go, the setting sun told her. Unhappily, Annabeth sighed but began the mile walk home. It as the last day of summer vacation and she was not looking forward to school. Even so, she had to go. It wasn't the learning that she hated. No, in fact Annabeth loved learning. But it was the people that she despised. People like Percy Jackson.

* * *

The last day of summer had come to soon. Yes, he did a lot. Like going to a few water parks with his friends, swimming in the ocean, going to Hawaii, and just hanging out with his friends. But there was still so much her could do! Sighing, he let his head drop, allowing his messy black hair to fall into his green-blue eyes.

School, school, school, school. All school for ten months. Percy tried to think of the bright side. Seeing his friends again, the swim team, and two years left of high school. Though it would be a long ten months, Percy knew that he could survive. But since he was ADHD and Dyslexic, paying attention was pretty hard. But Percy was confident that he would be fine as long as he wasn't around Annabeth Chase.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys. This is just an introduction, but I hope you'll read it and enjoy the rest of the story. The violin thing was inspired by Lindsey Stirling (Watch one of her videos, she' amazing!). Oh, and there won't be any demigod stuff, since it's like another universe where they're just normal people at highschool. Happy Reading! **


	2. New Year, School Year

**Annabeth**

_ Beep_

_ Beep_

_ Beep_

"Ugh," groaned I as I rolled out of bed and smacked my alarm clock to stop the annoying wake up noise. Strands of blond hair hung in my face, the rest in a messy bedhead. Five AM. On the first day of school. School started at seven, so I had plenty of time to get ready. I walked into the bathroom down the hall from my room and washed my face, in attempts to wash away the sleep. Though it woke me up quite a lot, I still felt like collapsing onto my bed again. But instead I brushed my teeth, then got dressed. Since it was the first day of school, I had to think for a second about what I should wear. Most girls would try to look good, impress on the first day. A dress? Well, I don't have any. Skirts? Not a single one to be found. But neither were my type of clothes anyways. Hmm... Let's see. I have multiple teeshirts, some tank tops, jeans, sweatpants, gym shorts...

Usual clothing for me in other words. Clothes I felt most comfortable in. Within five minutes I had on a TARDIS Blue teeshirt that said, "BOWTIES ARE COOL". What can I say? I'm a fan of Doctor Who. Then I had knee length jeans that had a swirled vine design running up one leg. I slipped on a pair of gray converse and headed downstairs for breakfast.

By now it was 5:20. Stifling a yawn, I walked into the kitchen. Dad wasn't home, but then again, he hardly was. I popped some bread into a toaster and began to make some scrambled eggs. Typical breakfast for me.

Ever since my mom died, I've had to look after myself. She died when I was six, dieing in a car accident. After the fateful accident, me and my dad moved to New York City. I attended Goode High Schoolwhile my dad was constantly busy at work. I always thought that he was just working in late to take his mind off of mom, but when I was twelve, I discovered that he had fallen for another woman. Two years later, they had gotten married and I had two step-brothers. Personally, I don't live her. Never have, never will. It was as if she pushed Mom out of our lives, and made my dad forget about me.

Just over the summer, they had moved and I was put into Goode. Even so, I already knew that people there were going to be terrible. Like one guy I had met over the summer. His name was Percy Jackson.

* * *

_Summer_

_ "So who's the new girl?" asked a guy. I looked up to see a boy with black, messy hair, green-blue ocean eyes, and a smirk on his face. With one look, I could tell that he wasn't the type of person I would want to know. Sighing, I stood up and brushed myself off. All I wanted to do was read my book in the shade of a tree in a park. It would have been nice, but the boy's interruption threw her off. He looked at me expectantly. "Annabeth Chase." _

_ He smiled and one of his friends called him over. "Hey Percy! You coming or what?" The boy, Percy, turned around and yelled at his friend, "Yeah Grover, I'll be there in a sec!" _

_ Percy looked over me for a second before asking, "You're going to Goode right?" Instead of speaking, I only nodded, hoping her would leave soon. Sure enough he turned around say, "Me too. Name's Percy Jackson. See you around." I rolled my eyes and began to walk home._

* * *

To me, he seemed to confident in his abilities to get anything, or anyone, he wanted. It was as if her expected me to jump up and start fangirling over him. Ugh, no way would I ever do that. Not that it mattered. I just hoped that he wasn't in any of my classes.

I looked up at the clock. 6:00 AM. Once again I had been thinking to much. It was a bad habit of mine. But since I had ADHD and dyslexia, when I think, time seems to go by quickly. I ate my food as quickly as possible and set out plates for my step-mom and step-brothers.

I walked out of my house and to my car, a gray/silver Camri. I double checked to make sure that I had everything.

Books: Check. Folders: Check. Binders: Check. Paper: Check. Schedule: Check. Violin: Check. I almost never went anywhere without my violin. Since I still had a hour, I put on my owl watch and drove over to my secret forest haven. Taking out my violin, I mentally debated what song I could practice. After walking to the middle of the clearing, and having the violin rest on my shoulder, I decided to try out a new song. My hand flew with the bow and I automatically began moving in a complicated dance.

My blond hair flew around my face, my feet moving as if they were flying, and my hand s moving quickly to match my body's pace with th e song's. It was complicated, and I messed up a few times. But it was amazing. The feeling that I could creature such beautiful music, and dance at the same time still astounds me. I absolutely loved it.

By the time I had stopped practicing, it was 6:40. Breathing hard to get my heartbeat back to its normal speed, I slowly walked to my car and put my curly blond hair into a ponytail. I began driving to school. Let's hope that I have a good school year.

But things normally don't turn out the way I want them to.

**Percy**

"Percy, get up! You don't want to be late to school on your first day!" My mom called, waking me from my dream filled slumber. I groaned and tried to go back to sleep. But, as usual, my mom didn't let that happen and walked into my room, pulling me from bed. "Come on Percy! This is the longest you've been in a school without being kicked out!" she said, trying to encourage me to ace the day. Sighing in defeat, I got up.

Sure enough, this was the longest I've gone without being kicked out of school. Two years? And now I was on my third year of high school? New record! Well, at least for me. I didn't constantly get kicked out of school for anything... _Really_ bad. Mostly fights, once a explosion, and once I ran away. It's difficult. I never hurt anyone on purpose. It's just that, I can't stand bullies, so when I see someone hurting someone else, I don't think and spring into action. But that's all behind me now. In fact, now I was pretty popular. The guys think I'm cool and always want to hang out. Girls keep twitching their eyelids for whatever reason. They're pretty weird. To add onto that, it happens with every girl I see. All because I'm the best swimmer. But people like sports and someone good at a certain sport.

Yawning, I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and tried to make may hair stay flat on my head. All attempts failed. My black hair remained messy. I shrugged it off and went downstairs to eat breakfast. My mom's cooking was the best, so I was overjoyed to see my mom's delicious blue pancakes. Yes, _blue_. Blue food was a thing in my house. Well, apartment actually. Though it didn't really matter, since anywhere with my mom was home.

Looking at my breakfast, I smiled, saying, "Mom, I love you!" She smiled and ruffled my hair as I sat down to eat.

With my favorite breakfast to fuel me on, I was sure that the first day of school was going to be great. Just as I finished eating, my cell phone rang. "Hello?" I said as I put the phone to my ear. "Hey Perce! It's me!" came the excited voice of my best friend Grover Underwood. "Hey G-Man! I'm picking you up right?" "Yeah! I'm waiting outside right now, so..." he let his message trail off. I looked at the clock. 6:30 AM. "Crap! Sorry, I lost track of time! I'll be right there!" I said quickly just as I ended the call and ran out to my blue Prius.

Thankfully it only took five minutes to get to Grover's house and pick him up. Then it took another ten minutes to get to Goode High School. By that time, we only had fifteen minutes to hang out with our friends.

My group of friends included: Grover, Jason Grace, Frank Zhang, and Leo Valdez. We immediately began talking and walking around, waiting for the bell to ring. As we walked past the parking lot, I saw a girl with blond curly hair step out of a gray car. She was tan, and had a athlete's build. She had a Californian girl's body, so when we passed her as she walked to the school, I expected sky blue eyes, like Jason's. But instead, I found myself staring into startling, cold, calculating gray eyes. Our eyes lingered on each other's faces before she turned away and keep walking towards the school's main doors. The girl carried a gray backpack with a owl on it, and a instrument case. What was it? Possibly a violin. She seemed so familiar to me. 'Where could I have met her before?' I thought to myself. Then I recalled a summer day in the park, where I met a new girl who was reading in the shade of a tree.

* * *

_Summer_

_ I saw a blond girl sitting underneath a tree, reading in it's shade. Having never seen her before, I, of course, waled up to her. "Who's the new girl?" I asked playfully. Annoyed, she looked up, and I found myself staring at one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen. Of course, I've seen other pretty girls, like Drew Tanaka, the pretty, popular girl at Goode. _

_ Sighing, she stood up and brushed herself off. I looked at her, expecting a reply. A simple "Hello," or maybe her name. "Annabeth Chase," she said, in a light voice. Just as I was about to open my mouth to start a conversation with her, Grover called out to me, "Hey Percy! You coming or what?" Since he was my best friend, I turned around to talk to him, not looking away with a annoyed expression on my face. "Yeah Grover, I'll be there in a sec!" I yelled back. _

_ Before I left, I asked her, "You're going to Goode right?" She nodded. Maybe I could talk to her during the school year. Not wanting to keep my friends waiting, I began walking away, and turned around to introduce myself before I forgot. Now she was looking at me curiously, and it felt like she was seeing all of my secrets."me too. Name's Percy Jackson. See you around." She rolled her eyes._

_ As I walked back to my friends, I found myself thinking about the type of person she seemed to be. This Annabeth girl seemed really smart, a teacher's pet. But at the same time, she seemed like a good person. Then again, it seemed like Annabeth wasn't anything special. At that time, I decided that I wasn't going to bother myself with a girl like her who would probably only be interested in school and homework._

* * *

The bell rang, signally the beginning of school. Everyone headed over to either the gym or cafeteria, depending on what year their in. I headed over to the gym to get thee "Welcome-back-to-school-all-us-teachers-are-going- to-bore-you-to-death-and-you-better-not-get-into-t rouble-speech" as we all called it.

I sat in the back with my friends, just two rows behind Annabeth. The principle began talking. "Welcome back Goode students, and welcome to all new students! This school year we have a lot planed and expect your best..." Within the first sentence, I tuned out. This school year may be good, but it would definitely be boring.


	3. Beginning with Familiar Faces

**Annabeth**

I slammed my locker shut, holding my binder, planner, and pencil case on my arm. My arm itself rested on my hip. I looked at my schedule again. First class, English with Mr. Grimm . As much as I loved learning and all, English was my east favorite subject due to my dyslexia. Add ADHD on top of that and you're basically screwed. And I was.

The class was empty. Just to make sure I was in the right classroom, I looked at the room numbers again. 162. Yep, this was my English class. So why was it so empty? I walked in slowly, my heart beginning to pound in the silence. My imagination went wild. Kidnappers had taken Mr. Grimm hostage and were hiding in the classroom since I had walked in. A monster killed him and was out for me next. A new, very contagious disease had taken hold of him who was now slowly dyeing. Mr. Grimm was a murderer who was...

A loud bang followed by a muttered curse got my attention. I turned to see...

Mr. Grimm walking out of the storage room in the back of the classroom, caring a box. He was so focused on his task, that he didn't notice me until he set down the box on a desk. When he looked up, I actually saw my teacher for the first time. Short black hair, glasses,, and brown eyes. He was tall, and looked to be no more than 35.

"Oh! Hello, I'm Mr. Grimm!"

"Hello, I'm Annabeth, a student for your first period class."

"Oh!" he said once more. "Well, your early!" He looked down at the box and looked back up at me. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well, if you can, do you think you can help me?" he asked rather sheepishly.

I nodded and put down my things on the desk in front of me. My heartbeat had returned to normal and mentally laughed at myself for my silly idea's of why the classroom was so empty. I walked over to him as explained what needed to be done. As I worked, I began thinking getting distracted while still doing my job.

'He certainly isn't very organized," I thought as I ordered books on a bookshelf under a window,"I would never do this. In fact, if I was a teacher, I would've already had everything ready the day before school." I finished ordering the books and found that everything was done just as the minute bell began to ring. Students rushed down the hallways trying to get to class before the minute was up and the late bell rung, signalling the beginning of school. I sat down in the first row, closest to the window and bookshelf. The classroom was beginning to become filled with people, all who talked and were very loud and slightly distracting. I was slightly annoyed that the quiet was gone in the matter of a few seconds. Each desk soon had a student who was busily talking to a friend.

Just as the late bell started to ring, someone threw down their things on the desk next to mine. I looked over and found myself staring at electric blue eyes. The eyes belonged to the one and only Thalia Grace.

She had black hair that was spiked with a electric blue streak that rivaled her eyes. A silver tiara sat on top of her head, and she wore silver camo pant and a black shirt that said DEATH TO BARBIE in neon green.

Not only was she loud and rebellious, but one of the most popular girls in school, if you count well-known as popular. She looked at me as she slid into her seat, her eyes revealing no thought. Then, as if coming out to a decision, she stuck her hand out. "Thalia Grace," she said in a clear voice. I came to my own decision and took her hand smiling. "Annabeth Chase."

I could see in her eyes, if only for a brief second, that she was slightly impressed and pleased. We began chatting like old friends along with the rest of the class. The noise decreased over time, but everyone was still chatting. I turned and glanced at the front of the class of a brief second and saw Mr. Grimm watching everyone with a amused expression.

He cleared his throat and the class quieted down and turned their heads to see their English teacher. "Well, since it's the first day of school, we're not really going to do anything. And for the entire week, there'll be no homework." Everyone cheered at that. Mr. Grimm smiled and let the noise die down before continuing. "And since we're going to be doing many projects that partners or groups, I want everyone to turn to the person next to them and talk, About anything. Learn little things abut them. And be nice or I'll have everyone do some traditional friendly dances from across the world, which is very embarrassing."

Everyone turned to their friends, or people that they can talk normally to. A few looked around nervously, searching for someone to talk to. Some even stared at their desks shyly. Meanwhile I turned to Thalia as she turned to face me, not sparing a glance at anyone else. Before Thalia could open her mouth to ask her question, I sped through with my suggestion of what to do. "Do you want to see how much we can find in common before the class ends?" For a moment I was scared that she would shoot down my idea with, "Why should we?" or "That's a stupid idea." Then I reassured myself with the fact that Thalia had begun smiling. We each pulled up our own piece of paper, pencils ready to jolt down what we had in common. "Let's try to top a hundred!" she said excitedly. I grinned and nodded, ready to write as fast as possible. Thalia asked the first question. "What type of music do you like?"

"All types."

"Me too!"

Okay,my turn. "Where do you want to travel to someday?"

"Greece!"

"Greece?! Me too!'

We went on like so for the entire hour,writing down everything that we had in common for the entire hour, and though we had many differences, we counted up the similarities and found that we topped one hundred. We both yelled, "Yeah!" and high fived, earning strange looked from our classmates. Surprisingly, we had five classes together, as well as lunch. I walked smiling to my next and favorite class music.

* * *

Strangely enough, the class was taught by nine teachers, who students nicknamed the Nine Muses. I remembered the Greek stories of the Nine Muses. The Nine Muses represented art, music, theater, and all of the crafts. I arrived to the class to minutes before the bell rang. A few kids already were seated, waiting for the class to start. I sat in the back this time, looking around for the teachers, wondering why I couldn't see any of them. Every second, more kinds entered the class.

The classroom itself was very large. But I supposed that it had to be since the music, art, writing, drama, and crafts classes went on at the same time. All the classes were said to go together in the end, but for a while, it was just a confusing mess. The classroom took up the space of at least four normal classrooms. Curtains hung at the walls, probably used to separate the many classes.

The bell rang and suddenly the lights went off. A few girls screamed and I rolled my eyes at how easily they got scared and overreacted. A single lamp near the front suddenly went on and showed one teacher. More lights came on and showed more teacher. This kept going until all nine teachers were revealed. A single voice, or what sounded like a single voice, sang out, "Welcome to... Class!" The lights came back on and I saw that all Nine Muses were singing. Their voices were beautiful, mingling together perfectly. I was amazed. After they stopped singing, some kids began clapping, and the clapping spread until I was clapping too. The Nine Muses smiled and took a bow. The one in the center rose up first and said in a loud clear voice, "Thank you! Well, we are, as you all call us, the Nine Muses!" All of the teachers rose up from their bows and waved. "Now," continued the center Muse, "Since this is a class, I will need to take roll." And so she did take roll. I looked around. There were many students, so I knew that it was going to take a while.

I tried to pay attention to the names and the person who said, "Here!" but I couldn't and zoned out. I began thinking about the Colosseum, and the architecture. See, I love architecture and want to design buildings one day. Buildings that would stand tall and proud through time, long after I'm gone.

"Annabeth Chase!"

I was pulled out of my thoughts at the sound of my name. "Here!" I called. She continued through the names as I zoned out once more. But a name drew me back to reality. A name that made my blood run cold. I saw him then. Sitting a few rows across from me. Ho had I not noticed? Sitting there with his black hair, ocean eyes, and smirk.

Percy Jackson.

* * *

**Percy**

I'll admit that I couldn't help bu stare at Annabeth for a second as she walked by in the parking lot. What can I say? She was pretty with her blond hair and it's princess curls put up in a ponytail, intelligent grey eyes, and a muscular body. Not really buff, but a healthy kind of muscular. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that she had glowed. It didn't seem as if she had seen me. So I acted like I didn't see her, and continued to ignore her. I looked at the large clock built into the wall above the doors that led into school. I nudged Grover and motioned for him to look at the clock. He nodded. That's the way it was for us. We were so close we didn't need words to understand each other. In fact, Grover had gone to each school with me, and for that I'm grateful.

"Hey guys! Bells gonna ring, lets head in," I called out. They nodded and continued their conversation, walking towards the main doors. I was deep in thought, so I didn't notice when we got to the main doors. I looked up just in time to see the door ahead of me. I grabbed the handle and opened it like I knew it was there the whole time. No one noticed me stumble and went on as normal. Now I joined in the conversation, laughing in the mostly empty halls. We all split up in the same section of the hallway to put our things in our lockers.

The main doors opened again and another laughing crowd walked in. It was the pretty popular girls as the school labeled them. Not that anyone was wrong. Drew Tanaka was in the lead, with all the other girls I never really tried to talk to before.

They all wore pinks, reds, light blues, and purples. No dark colors what-so-ever. Dressed, skirts, short-shorts, tank tops, and small shirts. Breaking every dress code rule, not that they were ever punished for it. I rolled my eyes. Drew flipped her always perfect dark brown hair over her shoulder. Before she reached me and the guys, I could already smell the strong perfume. I mentally gagged.

Click, clack, click, clack. Oh, how absolutely wonderful. High heels. I swear, that on day, the military will be using high heels as weapons. Drew came closer and closer, and I mentally prepared myself for what was coming.

"Oh, hi Percy," she said in a high, stuck up voice. That wasn't the worst thing about her though. Yeah, there are worse things. Drew was my girlfriend. We had been dating since before the summer. I know that she's insanely pretty, but I didn't want to be with someone who was just pretty. I wanted to love someone who was more deep, someone with a personality. Perhaps I should break up with Drew. I know that I would probably be a bit happier if I did that. Yet at the same time, I didn't want to go through the endless drama that would come with breaking up with her. After all, it was just the beginning of the school year, and I didn't want to go through it.

A pair of hands suddenly wrapped around my throat, cutting off my air. I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn't notice anyone near me or what they were doing. In a flurry of panic, I grabbed the hands, spun them so that the person they belonged to followed, and I threw the person on the floor. My panic cleared after a few seconds and I was able to see clearly through my eyes. Someone screeched and I looked down to the person I through on the floor. Drew stared up at me, eyes giving me a death glare. I gulped and helped her up. "Sorry Drew, you cut off my air and I panicked." She looked away with a huff and stomped her to her friends. Somehow, people swarmed the hallway, the bell having already rung, and everyone was getting their stuff from their lockers and heading to class. I proceeded to do the same, going in a rush wondering how much time I had until the first bell.

Everything I actually needed for all of my classes were in a single binder, but I grabbed an extra notebook and folder in case.

All I knew off my first class was that it was in room 242. I didn't know what subject or which teacher. Due to my extremely bad dyslexia, it looked like tamh, sr.m sddo, so I didn't know what to expect.

I walked into the class, almost every desk occupied by a student. A few were left, and I choose an empty seat by the window. I looked at the teacher, who was in the front of the classroom with her head bent down over a notebook, writing something down.

The bell rang and she looked up, her gaze going over every student in the room. A few shifted uncomfortably and I wondered why until her eyes met mine. I felt the hairs on the back of my next stand up and my blood run cold. Sudden;y, I knew who this teacher was. She was Mrs. Dodds, the math teacher. Not only was she a math teacher, but also the strictest and meanest teacher in school. Mrs. Dodds eyes stayed on mine for a few seconds longer than everyone else, glaring at me. I shivered and, thankfully, she looked away.

"Good morning, class. I'm Mrs. Dodds, your math teacher." By that time, I had already zoned out and was staring out of the window. In the back of my mind, I faintly heard Mrs. Dodds explain to the class what we'll be doing over the course of the school year. She droned on and on about things that I didn't care about. After about forty-five minutes of staring out of the window, I heard a sharp call of my name. I jerked up in my seat and found Mrs. DoddShewass glaring at me again. "Perseus Jackson, please do try to act interested to fool the other teachers. Staring out the window for most of the hour won't do you any good," she said in a cold tone. A few people giggled and I nodded. Mrs. Dodds continued with what she was saying as she without looking at me again.

I came back out of my thoughts when the bell rang and everyone began streaming out of the classroom door to head over to their next class. I followed, heading to my next class. I didn't need to consult my schedule for my next class. Rumors say that it's the best class in the school, as well as the most exciting. Students have said that it was one class divided into nine different classes and sessions. And everyone knew who the teachers were. People have forgotten their real names, and even the teachers stuck with their nickname of the Nine Muses. Every student wanted to get into that class, so I was really excited to be there.

I entered the classroom and looked were many students, and the room was about the size of three classroom. Students already filled the chairs, their items placed in front of them or under the chair. Few people sat in the back, so that's where I sat. I sat a few rows away from the person closest to me on my right side. She was blond, but looking down so I couldn't see who it was.

I turned away, but saw her lift her head in the corner of my eye. I couldn't see clearly, but I could see that she had a glazed, thoughtful expression that told everyone who looked that she was distracted. And suddenly the lights went out. I felt myself paying attention, trying to find out what happens next.

Cloth sifted and my ears strained against the screams of girls. What was going to happen? A light flared to life, showing a figure. More lights -lamps actually- showing more figure until there were nine total.

I simply stared, not truly paying attention, but I heard singing. I came back when I heard a voice begin to take roll. I stopped listening again until I heard a familiar name. "Annabeth Chase!" "Here!" I looked at the source of the voice. Closest person to the right of me. I turned and saw the blond hair and grey eyes. My usual confidence began to deflate with memories of our early friendship.


	4. Bad Memories Lead to Trouble

**No POV**

Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson. They were best friends and nobody could say different. When Percy needed help with school, she helped. When Annabeth needed help practicing a sport, he helped. It was that way since second grade. Nobody could get between them. Everyday, they walked into school together, and left the same way.

The two children played together, defended each other, and never got into a fight. Perhaps, some would call them "Best Friends Forever", because that, in fact,was all they were.

Despite other students making circles around them and chanting, "Annabeth and Percy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G...", they were only friends. And every time it happened, the other students watched them for signs of blushing. But Annabeth and Percy just smiled and broke out of the circle before continuing whatever they were doing before that.

They had always bee that way, throughout elementary school. But things began changing in Middle School.

Annabeth had never cared about clothing or make-up, instead focusing on school, family, and friends. People began to whisper about her, casting her glances as she walked through the hallways. It didn't matter, at least not to her, since she had Percy to stick with her. But lately she had noticed that he was acting a bit different. She no longer saw in the hallways, he was never at his locker when she went to find him, and he never sat with her for more than five minutes. No matter how many times something told her that something was wrong with Percy, she refused to listen to it, doing her best to believe that he was just having a hard time and needed to be alone.

That hope shattered when she saw Percy laughing with different people, laughing about someone. And she heard the name, "_Annabeth_."

**Annabeth**

I could still remember that day clear as water. Nothing has been the same since. In fact, my life seemed to take a downward spiral from there.

Nothing I say could expression what I felt that day. I saw Percy, my best friend – or so I thought – talking with some people. These people are what others would call the 'popular kids'. For a long time, I wondered why they choose to be with him, and why Percy left me alone. Now, I wonder why I didn't know.

Percy always loved water. A lake, a ocean, a pool. He loved water. So naturally, he was an amazing swimmer. In fact, Percy was the best on the team. That was where things began to change. I always thought that I would be his "Wise Girl" and he would be my "Seaweed Brain". How wrong I was. But that was how it was. I wasn't much, not a big pretty face, never very social, hardly noticed. He was the best swimmer on the team, easy to talk to, always laughing. People flocked to him, leaving me in th shadows. Although I was a little hurt that he didn't value my company anymore, it was nothing compared to the heart crushing feeling of seeing him and his new friends laugh about me.

_"__My God, she's such a freak!" Laughter. Someone asked, "Why did you hang out with her for so long? I mean, it must've been so lame. All studying and no fun, that's what she is." I was wondering who they were talking about. __I didn't wait long for my answer._

_ Percy spoke up and my curiosity reached new peaks. "I felt kinda bad for Annabeth. Without me, she would be all alone. But that doesn't matter now, she can handle herself. Besides, you guys weren't there!" I heard laughter in the distance. I hadn't even realized that I began walking away. Tears began leaking down my face, and I made no attempt to wipe them away. I snuck around the school, avoiding everyone before I began to run home. _

_ Pain coursed through my veins. Then anger and betrayal followed. Mixed together, the three __were not something to mess with. _

_ I slowed to a brisk walk when I was far enough from the school. As I walked the last mile from school to get home to the welcoming arms of my mother, I swore that I would never forgive Percy Jackson._

I was lost in my thoughts once more. But the Muses voices pulled me out of my trance like state. "... and we'll also have a musical at the end of the year, and everybody is going to participate. Okay, everybody split up and go to your teacher!"

Everybody stood. Some went to the music section of the room, others to art, and yet more to drama. Soon everybody was with their respective teacher. I had music. Unfortunately, so did Percy. I mentally groaned at my bad luck, before I decided to ignore him best I can and pay attention to the class. So I did. And I payed attention and ignored him for the first ten minutes.

The teacher looked at her portion of students. "Alright, so this is music as you all know. Either you sing, play a instrument, or you want to learn how to play. Course you could also be a songwriter... That's besides the point. So how many of you play a instrument?" asked the teacher, who's name I found out, was Ms. Euterpe. A few people raised their hands. She looked around the room to see if anyone else was going to do the same. I saw Percy look at me from the corner of my eye.

"Ms. Euterpe , Annabeth also plays an instrument," he called out. Everyone turned their heads to look at me. I ignored them, being to busy glaring at Percy.

She looked at me with a little bit of surprise evident in her eyes. looked at me before saying, "Is that so Annabeth?" I mutely nodded. "Which instrument?" I said nothing. Once again Percy spoke up. "A violin." Now her attention was on him. "And how do you know this?"

Percy looked slightly embarrassed. "I saw her carrying the case into school." looked at me with a expression saying, _"Is he telling the truth?" _I nodded and she looked satisfied.

Once again, she surveyed the portion of students. "Is that everyone?" People nodded. And so we continued on with whatever we were doing. Once again, I was reminded of what I said. "_I swear that I will never forgive you Perseus Jackson._" I had said the same thing at the park as well. And nearly every time I thought about far, I hadn't forgiven him, and I wasn't going to back down now.

**Percy**

I was still reeling from the shock of seeing Annabeth here. And the memories that came with it certainly didn't help.

_ "... __but I'm sure that we'd all get along fine. I mean, she's a likable person," I said, trying to make them see her in a different light. Unfortunately, it didn't work. They laughed, saying, "Please! The only thing she does is study! She doesn't care about sports or any of the girls' gossip. You can't possibly believe that we would all be FRIENDS." _

_ I hesitantly smiled saying, "But you never know right?" Thinking quickly, I added, "Oh, guys, the buses are going to leave soon, we should be going." They agreed and began to walked over to the buses, still talking and laughing. I hung in the back, thinking. 'Why did they dislike Annabeth so much? I mean, yeah she isn't interested in school sports or anything, but she's nice. I wonder why they don't see that.' _

_ Though we usually stick up for each other, I always hung in the back of my little group, watching silently as Annabeth was pushed around and taunted. Drew and her friends shoved her around, throwing everything she carried to the ground. For the first few times, she looked up at me desperately. I looked away. After that, Annabeth began ignoring me, suffering the bullying with her head held high. _

_ It was almost as if Annabeth was telling me, "You see Percy? I don't need you to defend me. I can carry myself. And you can watch me walk away." _

_ After that year, she moved to Seattle, after he dad changed jobs. The last I ever saw of Annabeth was when I was riding my bike with a few friends and turned onto the road where Annabeth lived. I saw her blond hair kept back with a ponytail as she loaded boxes into a moving van. She was short, and slightly pale. Our eyes met, sea-green on __gray__, before she turned away and left. Annabeth was gone._

From then on, the class went by quickly. I faintly recall saying to that Annabeth had a violin, which she did, and Annabeth glaring at me. No matter how much I deserved it – ditching her and all – I didn't like it; it felt like a reminder that we could never go back to being friends again. But her attention went to the teacher after a minute and spaced out.

The bell rang, startling me, and I ran out. As I walked to my next class, I remember the summer, when I saw Annabeth at the park. I honestly couldn't believe that we had forgotten about each other, even though it had been three years without seeing each other.

Room 237, science. I walked in and had a minute before the bell rang. Not many people where in the classroom, leaving many empty seats. I naturally choose the one by the window. With nothing to do, I looked around the room, looking at each person that was waiting for the class to start.

There was a girl with black hair chatting with a girl that had red and brown hair. A guy sat in the front with blond hair and someone sat in the row behind him who had short brown hair that was spiked up. And then I saw someone who looked familiar in the back of the room, staying out of sight in the shadows. Black hair, black eyes, black clothes, olive skin...

"Nico!" I whispered to myself as I got up and walked over to him. "Hey Nico!" He glanced up and me. A notebook lay open on his desk and I tried to take a peak at it, but he closed it quickly.

Nico smiled slightly and said, "Hi Percy." He seemed nervous about something and I couldn't help but wonder what he was hiding. I looked at his face and, upon noticing this, Nico ducked his head. But I saw something as his head went down. I grabbed his chin and made him look at me. His face seemed normal, but when I turned his head to the side, I saw a purple bruise blooming next to his ear, hides by his hair. Nico pulled back from my hand and glared at his desk.

"Nico..." I said quietly. He ignored me. "Nico." No response. "Nico. Nico. Nico. Nico, listen to me!" I said loudly, drawing the attention of the two girls who quickly looked away to continue talking.

He brought his head up, glaring at me. "What." I shivered slightly at the sound of danger in his voice. "Who did this to you?" He opened his mouth to answer and I cut in, saying, "I know someone here did this to you. Don't lie and tell me who. It. Is." For a minute, Nico stared at me, then gave up and sighed before saying, "Ben."

The sound of the name made me growl. Although there were many "Ben"'s at the school, I knew only one who would hurt Nico. It wasn't the first time, but usually Ben got one of his friends to do the dirty work. "I swear, I;m going to hunt him down and..." I muttered dangerously before Nico told me, "Just drop it Percy. It's done. Forget it."

I nodded, but I knew that I was going to destroy him. Although I usually only stopped a bully with my words, I didn't do it often. I had learned that people had to look after themselves and I stuck with my friends. Sometimes I would defend a stranger, but I usually walked by. But nobody, and I mean _nobody_, messes with my friends.

Class came and went, as did the next – which was English – and I walked to lunch with Nico and Leo, looking for Ben. But I didn't spot him in the hallways or cafeteria so I got my lunch and sat down with the rest of my friends at our table. Thankfully, I didn't see Drew yet, so I happily ate my lunch.

Of course, the peace didn't last long. I heard a screech and I, as well as the rest of the cafeteria, turned to look at the source of the sound. Drew. Who had beans on her designer clothing. I smirked, and saw that Thalia was the cause of it. She was glaring at Drew, as was Annabeth who was sitting next to her. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT! YOU LITTLE -"

"Oh, shut up Drew, no one whats to hear what you have to say." I looked in shock at Annabeth who had a smile on her lips. Thalia grinned turned around to ignore the Queen Bee and eat her lunch. Annabeth began to follow in suit, but Drew reached and and grabbed a handful of her blond hair. She pulled back, hard, and Annabeth turned and punched Drew in the face.


	5. Afterschool After Thoughts

**Annabeth**

To be honest, I didn't expect anything interesting to happen in school. But first there was Percy Jackson, and now there's Drew Tanaka. And I had just punched her. Maybe I should go back to the start. Well, the start of Drew and the start of lunch that is.

Drew. Drew, Drew, Drew. Before I moved, I was often pushed around by her. In her eyes, I was a nobody and a geek. Sometimes her words got to me, but I was honestly too busy with my life to bother with her. Then she decided that it would be fun to push me down, knock everything I had out of my hand, and take my lunch. Because of her, I grew thinner and thinner in Middle school. And as soon as she noticed, Drew went around spreading rumors that I had anorexia, and making fun of me for it. That was what really set me off. It wasn't the rumors or the teasing and pushing. It was the fact that she was making fun of a eating disorder that is very dangerous and therefor making fun of the people that had. I was about to throw her to the ground to be honest, so I simply walked to the office, called my mom, told her I was going to fight someone, and I got out of school early.

Lucky me right? Not at all actually. Instead, Drew gloated about driving me off, saying that I wouldn't go to school the next day. But I did, and she was fairly mad. And the cycle continued until school ended. Percy certainly didn't help, but I didn't need him. I was strong, and I could deal with things on my own.

And now, there we were, in the cafeteria, calmly eating out lunch and talking. Thalia was telling me about the school, and telling me all the news. Including some news on Percy and Drew who just so happened to be dating. "Good," I thought to myself, "Now he'll suffer the Drew treatment." I occasionally voiced my thoughts and opinions, but otherwise, it was just Thalia talking. Now, take a guess on who saunters up to us.

If you guessed Drew, good job! If you guessed someone else, do you know what's going on anymore?

Anyways, Drew make a snarky comment on our clothes and how stupid we were and said a few choice words. Thalia didn't respond, only grabbed her tray, and "accidentally" spilled her beans on Drew.

It took a few moments for Miss Queen Bee to understand what just happened as I snorted and tried to contain my laughter.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT! YOU LITTLE -" Drew was yelling. But she abruptly stopped when we turned our backs on her and continued to eat and talk as if nothing happened. I could practically feel her glaring at our backs. However, we continued to ignore it. That is, until she stood up and grabbed a handful of my hair and roughly pulled up, bringing me up as well. I let out a small yelp, before whipping around to face her.

Drew glare at me, looking me dead in the eye as she growled out, "So, new girl joining forces with Thalia? Pathetic. Hey, don't I know you somewhere?"

I felt a small flare of panic in my chest, but I quickly brushed it off. She wouldn't remember. Right? I confident that she wouldn't remember, so I calmly walked a few steps away from the table before punching Drew in the face. Which led me to where I am now.

Drew stumbled back, sporting a large bruise on her face. Wow, that felt good. However, the look she as giving me right now wasn't so good. Then she smiled. Yea, definitely not good. I just then noticed the entire cafeteria watching us silently. Drew looked around, trying to see if anyone would offer her help. When no one came forward, she stalked up to me and got in my face. I refused to move, and the moment she opened her mouth, I opened mine as well. But I was the one who spoke faster. "Screw off Drew."

Startled, Drew backed off a bit. Satisfied, I sat back down to talk with Thalia again. But Thalia wouldn't talk yet. Instead she surveyed the cafeteria, before yelling, "HEY! NOTHING TO SE HERE, GET BACK TO EATING!"

As if they just woke up, the cafeteria erupted in it's usual noise. Drew was sitting at her table of "populars", still glaring at us steadily. What a absolutely wonderful day. Oddly enough, I just wanted to leave school, to just walk out this very second. But I refused to do so and remained seated.

Thalia and I stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter. "Did you see her face?! God, that was the best. Well done Annabeth!" Thalia gasped out between her laughter..

"I know!" I said, clutching my stomach. "The beans were a nice touch by the way! Now she'll have to suffer the rest of the day in stained clothes in front of basically the entire school!" By now we where laughing to hard to speak. Thalia actually had tears in her eyes! Surprisingly, I realized that it had been a while since I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt. And it really felt good, even though physically, my face and stomach hurt.

But, of course, the bell had to ring just then. Wonderful. Still wiping tears out of her eyes, Thalia stood up and grabbed her tray. I followed and we threw away our food before heading to our lockers to head over to our next class. From then, four hours passed by quickly the bell rang, signaling the end of school.

I grabbed my backpack and started filling it with everything I would need for tonight's homework. I chatted with Thalia, and after exchanging phone numbers, I got into my car and drove off, violin on the passenger seat. At a stoplight, I glanced at it, deciding that I would practice the new song.

After driving for a few minutes, I pulled up at the forest and walked into the secluded clearing, violin in hand.

The violin fit beautifully in my hand, and after I called my mom to let her know I would be a little late, I started. At the first note, I began to move, spinning and jumping from here to there. I lost all sense of being on Earth. I was alone, simply dancing and playing. And there honestly wasn't a better feeling in the world.

**Percy**

I didn't remember much after the little showdown at lunch. Classes passed quickly, maybe because I had a lot on my mind. Well, mostly just wondering about Annabeth and how she'd change. After all, it had been a few years and I did forget about her. Which made me feel terrible since we were best friends. But she seemed happy on her own, with Thalia. Without me basically. I guess that it's only because I missed her now that I've seen her again, being happy without me.

Before I started thinking too much, the bell rang, dragging me out of my thoughts. Without second thought, I rushed out of the room and to my locker on record time. The hallways crowded quickly, but I managed to quickly get to my locker and grab everything I needed. To be honest, it wasn't much, since it was the first day of school, and my backpack was light.

I didn't wait for my friends at all, I just focused on going home to my mom. After all, I did love my mom, and she would want to know how the first day of school went.

And yes, I am a "Mama's Boy".

As soon as I got in my car, I sped off, rolling down the windows, enjoying the breeze as I drove home. I turned on the radio, singing softly. It seemed that in no time, I was back at the apartment, grabbing my backpack and heading up.

The apartment isn't much. It's small, but cozy in a way. My mom was in the kitchen, humming a strange song, baking cookies. A smile split my face as I tossed my backpack onto the couch. A small ding from the kitchen alerted me that the cookies were ready.

Happily, I walked into the kitchen, giving my mom a hug before reaching out to steal a blue cookie. "Here! They have to cool Percy!" Mom said teasingly before hugging me back. "So how was school honey?" I thought over the questions, honestly wondering how school had been. A few boring classes, evil teachers, lovestruck girls, and the small showdown between Annabeth and Drew.

Finally, I knew what I was going to say. "It was interesting to say the least." Mom tilted her head to the side, signaling me to continue. "Well," I began, "There were a few extremely boring classes, two evil teachers, and a small almost fight." I heard Mom gasp at the mention of the almost fight. A thought struck my mind, and without thinking, I opened my mouth. "Mom, do you remember Annabeth Chase? One of my best friends?" Mom looked a bit surprised at the random question, but nodded never less. "Well, she's back and in one of my classes."

"Annabeth. She was a cute kid. I always wondered why you two stopped being friends. Besides, didn't they move to San Fransisco?" Mom asked me curiously. Now I was the one nodding.

"Yeah, she moved, but she's back now! And we just didn't seem to get along anymore, so we stopped hanging out," the lie slipped easily out of my mouth, as if I had no control over it. I mean, I certainly wasn't going to tell her that I practically abandoned Annabeth. Which made me feel worse about it. She refused to look at me, and it seemed that that certain fact hadn't changed. Sighing quietly, I grabbed another cookie, quickly popping it into my mouth.

My mom's cookies were the best. No one could beat hers. It was sweet, soft, warm, chocolaty, and most of all, blue. What isn't there to love?

I finished chatting with my mom, grabbed my backpack and headed over to my room to start my homework. Well, at least try to. Even though I pulled out each paper and got my textbooks, the words instantly began swimming around the page. My ADHD was no help at all, as I kept finding myself staring out the window, pacing around my room, staring at nothing, or thinking about my old friend Annabeth. It had been years, so I was naturally curious on how she was doing. Was she happy? How was she? How was her family? Did Annabeth still hate spiders? Did she still hate me? Is she still being made fun of?

It annoyed me to no end that I didn't have a single answer. I most certainly couldn't just dive up to her house to meet her, see how everyone was doing. Besides, I didn't even know where she lived. I couldn't call her, since I kinda broke my last cell phone and I didn't know Annabeth's number.

Somehow, I was able to finish my homework after dinner. Having nothing to do, I went over to my computer and logged in. I had three new emails. Seeing that two of them were from Drew, I sighed a little loudly. However, the third one was from Grover. Quickly, I opened it, wondering if something happened and if he was okay.

_"Hey Perce,"_ it read, _"I heard at the end of school (you weren't there obviously) that for the arts classes with the Nine Muses, we have to be paired up with someone for the entire year. And we couldn't choose. Apparently, we have to do projects with them and all. Aside from that, we're doing a play on the Greek hero Perseus. Ironic isn't it? Anyways, seeing as you stared at Annabeth throughout lunch and Arts, people are beginning to think you like her. A lot. Drew's going to give you an earful tomorrow. Be prepared."_

I laughed a lightly at his message. Though it was torture for my eyes, I managed to read it in the end. I was guessing that Drew had sent emails about me staring at Annabeth. I opened both of her emails, and sure enough, they were about Annabeth and how I "didn't defend her during lunch and probably would've stuck up for Chase". Needless to say, they weren't important, long, and trash. So I deleted them, not bothering to reply.

Maybe one day, I would finally be free of Drew. I would be brave enough to break up with her and not be scared of hurting her or of her hurting me. But for now, all I could do was sleep.

So I did just that.


	6. Projects and Meets

**Annabeth**

I sat down tiredly in class. The Nine Muses stood at the front of the classroom where everyone was gathered and was explaining something. My brain couldn't process anything they were saying or writing. It had been a long first week, with drama already, all thanks to her highness Drew. She had been going on about how her boyfriend probably wanted to break up with her, how he didn't protect her , and how she was cheating on him. Of course, her boyfriend only heard about the first two things. Poor Percy had been getting an earful over the past few days.

And right on time, there was Percy, walking through the door and sitting down just seconds before the late bell rang. He ran a hand through his black hair and sighed. I began to wonder how bad it really. But I didn't care about him anymore. Right? We hardly even talked.

Before I could go on in my thoughts, the Nine Muses began talking to the entire class about a play.

"At the end of the year, we will be doing a play. This play will be Perseus, a reenactment of the Greek legend. We'll be preparing each of the classes to do their part. Five months before the play, we'll pick out the cast. For now, we'll just partner up and do something that corresponds with what class you're in. That's all there is to say today, so everyone return to your normal seat and your teacher will answer any questions you have." Everyone began chatting excitedly. Questions flew out of everyone's mouth and answered were given hurriedly.

Once everyone began to settle down a little, Ms. Euterpe smiled widely. "Okay class!" she said, clapping her hands together. "We'll be doing a partner project on music. You and your partner need to either play an instrument or sing, and work together and make a song. In fact, you can do a cover of a song if you like. Anything will work! You have three weeks to complete everything and perfect your performance!" I grinned happily. Anything that had to do with playing the violin make me smile. It was one of those smiles that you couldn't stop from spreading across your face. Ms. Euterpe looked at us again, looking as if she was trying to remember something. And as if something clicked in her head, she snapped her fingers and began to talk excitedly. "Oh, and one more thing! The partner that you get will be your partner for the rest of the school year! Play nice now!"

A few people looked around nervously. Ms. Euterpe began calling out names and who they were paired up with. I kept still and waited for my name to be called. Waiting, waiting, waiting...

"Annabeth Chase!"

Who was I going to work with? Please hurry up and tell me!

"And Percy Jackson."

…..Crap. This was not going the way I expected. Frustrated, I dropped my head into my arms and sat, staring at the desk. People began to move to sit next to their partners. I looked around and saw Percy walking over to me. Quickly, I sat up and did my best to look indifferent about everything. He slid into his seat and shyly looked over to me.

"Hey." I looked over to him and nodded my head slightly in acknowledgement. "So um... Are you going to play an instrument or sing?"

"Instrument," I replied in a quiet, but cold, voice.

"What inst-"

"Violin." Percy nodded. We sat silently for a moment or two. "Cover or original song?" "Either." Percy nodded again. He pulled out his phone and looked over to me meaningfully as I looked at him as if he had gone insane. "Your phone number?" I raised an eyebrow at his request. He rushed to give an explanation. "We're need to be able to talk to each other and figure out where to meet and all. I mean, we only have three weeks and you don't want to get a bad grade on this right?" He had me cornered there. I growled a little but still pulled out my phone and handed it to him. Percy smiled, his entire face lighting up. He tapped in some numbers on both our phones before returning mine to me. I took it and slid it into my pocket. With nothing else to do, I looked at the clock, hoping that he wouldn't talk to me.

But at the same time, I wanted Percy to talk to me. We were old friends, shouldn't it be natural for us to want to have that bond again? To talk, laugh, and whisper excitedly? To protect and tease each other? "No," I thought to myself, "he left me. He left me at their mercy. I don't need him. He doesn't need me." A strange weight pressed itself on my chest, making it feel as if a large, heavy stone was slowly crushing my heart. Without thinking, I began rubbing circles on my arm, trying to take my mind off the feeling of suffocation.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock. The clock moved slowly, seeming to slow more each second. There was only fifteen more minutes left of the class. Against my will, my eyes turned to Percy.

It had been eyes since I had last seen him. His black hair still refused to lie still on his head and was messy. His sea green-blue eyes still gleamed with humor and his mouth still had a faint smile on them. He hadn't changed much. Well, maybe he did grow taller, and fitter, as well as a little cuter...

"No Annabeth," I chided myself, "you did not just think that Percy Jackson was cute. Forget it. Focus on the project." In order to take my mind off of things, I filled my mind with song and melody. The music flowed together perfectly. I even began to quietly hum it, causing Percy to turn to me. He stared at me, listening. I, too, stared at him, too caught up in the music to fully realize what I was doing.

The moment I finished humming and came back to my senses, Percy began talking to me. "That was really pretty. I've never heard anything like it before. You should sing it again sometime," said Percy, complimenting me. Even if it came from the one person I swore to never go back to, I couldn't help but grin at the compliment. After all, it is always nice to hear that people like it or you made them happy, no matter who it's from. Children, soldiers, anyone.

Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all...

No, it would be bad. And it was only one project in many.

**Percy**

"I can't believe that you didn't try to help me! You hardly even looked at me! I bet that if you had to choose, you could choose that Chase girl over me, your girlfriend. Are you even listening to me?!"

I winced at rubbed my temple. Drew's shrill screaming was getting on my nerves. For once, I wished that classes had started already so that I could escape from the crazy person. The said crazy person was currently glaring at me with murder in her eyes. I froze. Never before had I seen such a scary expression on Drew's face. She stormed passed me without another word and headed towards where her friends were hanging about her locker. Drew began talking to them. Occasionally pointing to me.

Grover, who was at my side, looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry man, no one should have to go through that. Come on, she's distracted. We can go hide and then bled in with the crowd," said Grover, already tugging on my arm. I happily complied and ran.

Although what Drew was saying was rather moronic, I had to admit there was some truth in her words. I would root for Annabeth. I would help Annabeth. In fact, even though it had been three periods since Music with Annabeth, I couldn't stop thinking about my childhood friend. She had changed a lot, but I suppose I had too. When she had been a small, shy, and average normal looking kid, she grew up to be a pretty, smart, and somewhat taller than before. "Hey what are you -"

The sound of someone's voice drew me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see big football players shoving another student into a locker, causing him to drop everything he had in his hands. As much as I wanted to help, I couldn't. "Not my problem, not my fault. Just walk away Percy," I thought to myself. And so I did just that.

The sound was muffled, and I only saw the blue ahead of me. Small bubbles floated peacefully up to the surface. I reached the final wall, and burst up, out of the water, taking in deep lungfuls of air. I smiled, feeling the blood rushing through my veins. Swimming was my favorite thing to do. It calmed me down, gave me a feeling of peace. I had a way with water, and could move easily in it, and last under for a long, long time. The water was the only place that I could be completely at ease. That's why I loved it so much. That, and the fact that my last memory of my late father was in water. Water and swimming were now a constant in my life, the only connection to my father and my escape.

The scream of a whistle burst through the air. The entire swim team flinched. Time to go. I pushed myself out of the water and walked over to the locker rooms to dry off and change. Grover waved to me from where he sat for the hour, waiting for my lesson to be over.

I finished changed first and walked out. More and more people followed me. "Don't forget that there's a swim meet in two weeks!" yelled Coach Triton.

I smiled, already wanting to be in the competition, before heading home with Grover. We chatted and laughed as best friends do. Time passed in a flash and I found myself sitting in the car outside of my apartment, my thoughts scattered. I grabbed my backpack and bounded up the stairs, wanting to see my mother. Once I reached the door, I fumbled with the keys, almost dropping it, before opening the door. "Hey Mom!" I called as I walked into the apartment and into my room, throwing my backpack on my bed. Though I had homework, I decided to put it off for a while. I mean, family was more important right?

"Hello Percy! How was school?" Mom asked my, leaned over the counter as she was waiting for something to cook. I replied and we began to talk for quite some time before a timer rang, saying that dinner was ready.

I woke up in my bed later at five in the morning, wondering how I got there. I realized that I must have fallen asleep after dinner doing my homework, which I had yet to complete. With that thought in mind, I jolted up and jumped out of bed and grabbed my homework which lay abandoned on the counter. I grabbed a pencil that lay next to it and rushed to finish it. Problem was, I was having trouble focusing. "Ugh. I'm going to fail," I thought as I finally gave up and stuffed it into my backpack. Worst of all, I couldn't go back to sleep, so I had another half hour before my mom woke up.

For a while, I paced back and forth in my room. After that got boring, I stared at the ceiling and thought. Thought about the meet in two weeks, how to free myself from Drew, the music project, how much Annabeth and I had grown and changed, and how strange everything was. Everyone was just settling into being back at school and going to all their classes. It wasn't everyday that I could stay completely focused on my thoughts, so I took advantage of it. For the next half hour, all I did was think until my stomach growled and made me go to the kitchen to see my mom making blue breakfast.

I smiled. It was going to be nice to get to know Annabeth again. I only hoped she felt the same.


End file.
